Shining Bright
by TheoneandonlyHadesdaughter
Summary: Percabeth and Apollo become interesting friends through the most unlikely ways.
1. Chapter 1

Nico's POV

"What the hell?"

Percy exploded on me. I yelled at him. "Come on, Percy! We need to get out of here!" I looked around at my evil Stepmom's garden, and stopped dead as i glanced over at a bush.

Around it's base was a small plaque that read _To my darling Persophone, Love Mom xx. _I glared at the plaque and my hand flew out ans smashed it against the ground. It shattered into millions of tiny peices, as dark as the gardens themselves.

"We really need to go, Percy!" I turned to grab his arn when i saw movement out of the corner of my eye. A dude in a firey red tuxedo slid out infront of us and landed on the damp, black floor infront of us. He went "Oof! That was wicked!" and struggled to his feet.

His tux was covered in mud and leaves, but the guy was grinning form ear to ear. He turned to Percy. "Hey! I know you, Dude!" Percy nodded unenthusiastically, and i smiled at the red dude. The way the dingy light reflected on his made him look as if he was on fire.

"Percy? You gunna introduce us?"

"Nico, Apollo. Apollo, Nico." Percy turned to Apollo. "We need to get out of here. Cerberus is looking for us, and we don't wanna play ball anymore. Will you help?"

"Dude, I'm as lost as you are. Can't little black haired dude get us out?"

I nodded. "I can, but we might have to go through Melinoe's gateway thing. Is that ok?"

Percy sighed and started to walk. "Does that mean that we have to go through Sisyphus's boulder rolling task again?"

I shivered as i followed Percy. "I hope not. I hate that dude. He tried to get Cerberus to roll it the other day. That didn't work so well, as Cerberus tried to eat him, but hey ho, nobody's perfect."

Percy sniffed. "Speak for yourself, man. I'm as pretty damn perfect as you can get." A blonde girl pelted down the path, and crashed full on into Apollo. She fell into the nearest luminous flowered tree, and Apollo rolled over into the bush beside her.

The one with the broken plaque crammed in it's branches. He rolled out of the bush as quickly as he fell in, and kicked the plant after Percy dragged him to his feet. "Dude, did that girl just push me into that plant? Oh, tell me she did not do that."

Annabeth struggled to her feet and cursed in greek. Her mouth dropped as she saw Apollo standing infront of Percy, fuming. "Apollo? What the Hades are you doing down here?"

"Annabeth? i was just collecting material for my latest collection of poems."

"Haiku's?" Annabeth said sympathetically. Apollo nodded.

" Nice to see Percy

Nice to see Annabeth too

But i am still lost. "

Annabeth groaned. Apollo was notoriously bad at Haiku's, i noticed. I grabbed Annabeth's arm, and we started to run to Melinoe's cave. Percy and Apollo were hot on our heels.

" Chasing a small boy,

Who tries to rule this dark

I hope we get out. "

This time i groaned, and kept my back to Apollo. I decided that i hated him. He was having the opposite effect on Annabeth. She was looking all flustered and kept anning her face as we pounded down the dark tunnels.

We ran into a black end, and i looked up and swallowed. "Ah."


	2. Chapter 2

Percy POV

Nico looked up at something in front of us and swallowed, backing into Apollo and me as he said "Ah."

"What is it, Nico?" Annabeth was at his side, and was gripping his hand tightly, barely even noticing she was doing it.

"It's…err…"

Apollo screamed. "Ahhh! It's that dude who tried to bring his wife back from the dead!"

"Err, no. It's Dad and Persephone. We'd better run!"

Apollo and me looked at each other and turned around. We started running as Hades turned in our direction. Nico threw his hand out in front of him and Annabeth, and I felt as if I was running through a dense black cloud.

Annabeth stumbled, and almost fell, but she grabbed Apollo's hand as well as Nico's and they both pulled her up. Of course I'd never admit I was jealous, but that did make me feel pretty messed up inside.

"Thanks Apollo. Thanks Nico." Annabeth smiled at them in the half cark. "For picking me up."

Apollo flashed a dazzling smile, and Nico did something none of us were expecting.

A white flash flew at Annabeth, and I screamed out "Careful, Annabeth!"

Nico threw Annabeth at the ground, and sat beside her, his body shielding hers. Tears sprang to his eyes as the searing white exploded against him.

"Mmmmffff." Nico tried to stand, but another flash intercepted the cold air.

Annabeth grabbed his black aviator jacket, and pulled him to the ground beside her.

"Nico, Annabeth! Are you two ok?" I yelled out, and extended a hand to Annabeth. She let me pull her up, and then she hugged me. I was still in shock when she pulled Nico off the ground, whose black hair was red with blood, his jacket was ripped, blood dripped off him like rivers, and his brown eyes looked hurt and scared.

"Nico, Thanks for saving me." Annabeth dropped a kiss on his forehead, and red tears of pain slipped down his face.

Nico gritted his teeth, and struggled to run ahead of us. "Guys, we need to keep moving, no matter what." I nodded, but as it was too dark to see our surroundings, I added "Yes, we do. Lead the way, Nico."

"I'm trying to..." Nico yelped, the screamed "Down! On the floor, now!" I didn't see any threats, but Nico had just saved Annabeth, so I did as he asked.

A few bullets chattered through the tunnels, and I was glad of Nico, or else we all would've been dead. The tunnel was so dark; the imperial gold was invisible to all of us except Nico, who yelled "Imperial gold, the stuff Romans and that lot use." over the racket.

"Thank you, little black haired dude. You saved the life of a god." Apollo said, his face and mouth still in the dirt, by the sound of his voice.

"Yeah, I do that a lot down here." Nico said, sitting up. I could tell this as his voice seemed to get taller and harder to hear. A hand tapped me on the back, and pulled me to my feet. "Apollo, stand up." Nico commanded the god.

"Sure. Should I jump?"

"Yes! Really high! Percy duck, now!" I ducked. I heard the air shift as Apollo jumped. I heard a _whoosh_ as something flew over my head, and under Apollo's feet. He returned to the ground as soon as the thing had gone under his feet.

"Dude! What is your name?" Apollo asked the distracted Nico.

"Huh? Oh, Nico."

"Well, sir Nico, I would like to thank you once or twice again. I lost track of how many times you've saved us all. Cheers."

"You're welcome?" A sound of bricks exploding was accompanied by Nico's voice. "Ow! Never punch a brick wall unless absolutely necessary, ok?"

Apollo laughed. I feel a poem coming on." He cleared his throat.

" _Stuck here in the dark,_

_Being saved by Sir Nico,_

_Oh, I love my life._"

He giggled like a five-year-old. I could hear a soft rumbling sound, and Nico calmly said "Percy. Two meters to your left is a very alive skeleton. Do not let it eat you, Dude.

"I'll try not to, y'know. I like my life." I jumped to the right, and what Nico said next made me crack up.

" _Holy cow, du-ude, _

_ I am stuck in a tunnel,_

_ With a psycho bone._ "

He carried on. "That's my life, Ladies and Gentlemen, and the various psychopathic skeletons in the audience. You can buy my autobiography, 'Try to kill me, dude. Take a shot' from any Hell near you. Btw, if you do come down here, it may be a one way trip, man."

I almost collapsed, I was laughing so much. I heard a tutting, and Annabeth started to walk again, pulling Nico by his bloody hand. Her jeans brushed together in a way that was so familiar. This quest had made me realize how much

A) I valued my life

B) I wanted Annabeth to live

C) I relied on Nico

And all sorts of stuff I really didn't have the time to think about.

Nico staggered into a run, and we all caught up with Nico and Annabeth pretty quickly. Annabeth held Nico's hand tightly as we re-entered the darkness. I felt something brush against my head, and suddenly I could see again. The goggles Nico had just slipped over my eyes were night vision. He held his thumbs up, and slipped another pair over Apollo's eyes.

I noticed he wasn't wearing any, so I wondered how he could see anything at all. Then I noticed he was running with his eyes closed, and Annabeth's hand was close to his chest, wrapped in his.

"Nico, how can you see?" I asked, and Nico opened his eyes, and his speed increased.

"I was born with the ability to see in complete darkness. My eyes can see the same amount in the day as you, and compared to my night vision, I'm practically blind in the day." It can really mess up your life when you can barely see. I know this as, well, take now as an example. I had to rely on Nico.

This annoyed me no end. I mean, the kid is two years younger than Annabeth and I. Two years.

That really gets on your nerves. "Then why are your eyes closed?"

Well, you want to see, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, I'm showing your goggles what I can see via my head, so you can't actually see. I'm basically seeing for you, and sharing the image."

"Sweet. You must be really powerful to do that."

Nico blushed, and instead of seeing it, I felt it as the goggles got warmer. "Not really Percy. I can't do half the stuff you can do, Man. So, whatever."

"Dude, can you surf?"

"Yeah…"

"Swim?"

"Yeah…"

"Fight things?"

"Yeah…"

"Win the heart of any girl you want to?"

"No…"

"Nah, me neither. See, we have a lot in common."

"The only girl whose heart I shared died in an accident." Nico said. I immediately felt guilty. It was practically my fault Bianca died. "Oh, sorry Percy. It's not your fault. I don't blame any of you on that quest, ok?!"

"Yep, but that won't stop me feeling guilty though, ok?"

"Fine. Oh, and Percy. Look where you're going. You almost walked into a rock." I grinned sheepishly, and let Nico lead the way. Annabeth tried to catch up to him, but I grabbed her hand.

"You ok, Annabeth?"

She smiled warmly. "I'm fine thanks. I wonder what we'll meet on the way to the others."

The others. Clarisse, Connor, Travis, Beckendorf and all the others from camp. They were sat beside the entrance to the underworld, sunbathing.

"I dunno, but I hope they're easy to fight!" Annabeth nodded.

"Same. I need to see Nico, a sec. I'll be back, ok?"

"Ok." I watched her as she caught Nico's hand and they began to talk about something I couldn't hear. I sighed, and Apollo smiled at me.

"Dude." I looked up at him

"Yeah?"

"You fancy her dude. It's, like, so obvious. You should ask her out."

"I don't fancy her, Apollo. I swear I don't!" Apollo raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. I was grateful for that.

Up ahead, Nico's eyes snapped open, and he threw a wall of black at us, which pressed us into the wall of the tunnel. I looked ahead. "Whoa!"

I now valued my life SO much more.


	3. Chapter 3

Apollo POV

"Ahhh!" I screamed. Nothing like a swarm of skeletons to get your voice going.

"Dude, what was that for?" Percy asked me. We had our backs pressed into the wall.

"Like, effect. Come on, dude. It needed that."

"No dude, it really didn't need that." I sniffed at him.

"Whatever dude." A drop of water fell on my nose, and I sneezed. Annabeth glared at me over her shoulder.

"Shut up, Apollo." I held up my hands in mock surrender, and me and Percy giggled like two teenage girls.

"You too, Perseus Jackson." Percy giggled, and let Annabeth stomp on his foot. Out of nowhere, she produced this big, huge, fat roll of gaffa tape.

"Hold still, you two." Annabeth strapped a huge wad of the foul stuff over mine and Percy's mouths.

I tried to grunt, but you could hear nothing. Annabeth smiled and looked at Nico. "That's your distraction gone, Nico."

"Hmm? Oh yeah. That's nice. Thanks."

I silently glared at Annabeth's back, and a stream of fire touched her back. She squealed, and I tried to grin wickedly.

That was one grin that had epically failed. A black dot landed on my nose, and made me sniff. Annabeth screamed, and ran in front of Nico, practically jumping in his arms. He stopped, and looked at Annabeth.

"What is it?"

"S…sp…spider…"

"Yeah." He grinned wickedly. Lucky. "There are quite a few of them down here."

I laughed silently. That was the funniest thing that's happened down here in my opinion.

So that's where I'll leave it.


End file.
